Tag Archives: cranberry

Plan on every post on this blog starting with “When I was pregnant…” for awhile. Now that Quinn is out in the world and I’m feeling better, I want to try to post all the things I wanted to when I was too tired to do anything. You would think I would be saying that AFTER baby, but man, I’m convinced being pregnant was like having mono. No matter how little sleep I get I still feel better than the days I got home from work and could only manage eating a PB&J or cornflakes.

Speaking of cornflakes, I had a craving for a bowl of them when I was pregnant. That craving lasted for exactly one bowl. Of course, I bought the HUGE box of cornflakes. I don’t think any other cereal comes in a box so big. So…I’ve had some cornflakes I’ve been needing to do something with for way too long.

What’s the best thing to do with cereal? Make it into something even more unhealthy, of course! I had so many cornflakes I was able to make 2 batches of chocolate crisps inspired by Ina’s “English Chocolate Crisps.” For the first batch, chocolate, orange, and cranberry were perfect together. But then I realized that Chocolate and Peanut butter was kind of a no-brainer too. The process can get a little messy and each batch turns out slightly different. Above are the peanut crisps and below are the chocolate-orange crisps. I was able to get the orange ones into balls better and the peanut butter ones were a little harder to mold. Regardless of the messiness, these no-bake snacks are still super easy and worth it. It’s a great way to get a nice little hit of chocolate goodness without having too feel too guilty.

Chop the dark chocolate (if you aren’t using dark chocolate chips) and place into a double boiler. Add the bittersweet chocolate chips, the orange zest, and orange juice and stir until smooth. Alternately, you can place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals, stopping to stir until chocolate is melted.

Place the cornflakes and dried cranberries in a medium bowl and stir to incorporate the cranberries. Immediately fold in the melted chocolate with a rubber spatula, working quickly so the chocolate doesn’t harden.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Working with 2 large spoons or soup spoons, spoon mounds of chocolate onto the paper. This gets a little tricky since everything doesn’t quite stick together, but try to get the mounds clumped together. It’s messy, but the chocolate will harden in the fridge! Make about 2 dozen, 2-inch round crisps.

Refrigerate crisps until hardened, at least 1 hour.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Crisps

Ingredients

1 (12 oz) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup salted peanuts

3 cups cornflakes

Directions

Place chocolate chips into a double boiler. Add the peanut butter and stir until smooth. Alternately, you can place the chocolate and peanut butter in a heatproof bowl and microwave in 30 second intervals, stopping to stir until chocolate is melted.

Place the cornflakes, dried cranberries, and peanuts in a medium bowl and stir to incorporate everything. Immediately fold in the melted chocolate and peanut butter mixture with a rubber spatula, working quickly so the chocolate doesn’t harden.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Working with 2 large spoons or soup spoons, spoon mounds of chocolate onto the paper. This gets a little tricky since everything doesn’t quite stick together, but try to get the mounds clumped together. It’s messy, but the chocolate will harden in the fridge! Make about 2 dozen, 2-inch round crisps.

After a few disastrous cookie decorating experiences, I vowed that my last sugar cookies of 2015 would be really low maintenance – aka no piping or pastry art required. Then I thought, do you even have to roll out the dough with this cookie recipe? What if we added fun ingredients to the dough instead of making frosting?

Enter my fall-themed slice and bake sugar cookies – white chocolate, dried cranberries, candied ginger, and a touch of orange zest. I was SO happy with the end result. It turns out this classic sugar cookie recipe works great as a “slice and bake” cookie palette as well. For someone like me who will leave sugar cookie dough in the freezer for months just to avoid the task of rolling out the dough then decorating the cookies, this may be a much better way to go in the future. With this new take on sugar cookies, all you have to do is be patient waiting for the dough to chill, then you slice and bake and you are DONE!

I wanted these cookies to feel somewhat festive, and I thought adding white chocolate, dried cranberries, candied ginger and orange zest was a good way to go. They are reminiscent of the “cranberry bliss” flavor that is popular this time of year. In the future, I’ll definitely be trying different flavors!

Divide the dough into two round logs and wrap each in wax paper. Refrigerate at least 1 hour. Remove and unwrap the dough, and with a sharp knife, slice cookies about 1/2 inch thick. Place cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Bake the cookies at 400 degrees F for about 10-12 minutes. You never want them to get too browned around the edges, or they’ll be super crunchy. We like ours on the softer side.

We love finding new traditions around here. We are on year 2 of making these Sparkling Cranberries from Southern Living. While they are perfect on their own, there are endless possibilities and ways to serve them around the holidays: Adorning baked brie, used on brownies or cakes, or in mini fillo cups…there are a lot of delicious possibilities!

These little jewels can be made ahead, we tend to make a big batch and they will chill in the fridge and we will bust them out whenever a festive urge hits…

Recipe
Sparkling Cranberriesadapted from Southern Livingmakes a little over 2 cups of cranberries

Ingredients

1 cup pure maple syrup

2 cups fresh cranberries

1 cup sugar (can also use superfine sugar)

Parchment paper

Directions

Cook maple syrup in a saucepan over medium-low heat 1 to 2 minutes. (Don’t let syrup get too hot or cranberries will pop.)

Remove from heat; stir in cranberries. Cover and chill 8 to 12 hours. Place sugar in a large bowl or baking dish. Drain cranberries in a colander (about 15 minutes). Feel free to save that syrup for later…don’t let it go to waste!

Add 4 to 5 cranberries at a time to sugar; gently toss to coat. Repeat with remaining cranberries. Place cranberries in a single layer on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet; let stand until completely dry.

ingredients

1 pound (about 4 cups) cranberries

2 cups sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup bourbon

preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine first 3 ingredients in 9×13-inch baking dish. Cover tightly with foil and bake until cranberries are tender and sugar is dissolved, stirring once, about 1 hour. Remove from oven and stir in bourbon. Refrigerate cranberry sauce until well chilled. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead.) Transfer to bowl and serve.

Cranberry-Pomegranate Sauce

Recipe

from Lulu, yields about 2 cups

2 12 oz. bags fresh cranberries

16 oz. pomegranate juice

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup finely chopped sweet onion

1 tsp red pepper flakes

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and cook over medium-low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent burning. Mixture will thicken as it cooks, and will thicken more as it cools. Once off the stove, add the onion and red pepper flakes.

Cranberry juice and booze. Not my favorite combination in the universe. I think I ordered a cosmo once when I was 21. I have a friend who uttered the phrase, “I’ll have a vodka cran” for the span of about 3 years. She sticks with vodka sodas now. Let’s face it: The days of Cosmos and Sex and the City are looong gone.

waiting for the cranberries to burst!

Fast forward to the November 2012 issue of Sunset magazine – a recipe for a Cranberry Shrub, a “curiously refreshing fruity vinegar syrup, originally used to preserve in-season fruit.” I was immediately intrigued. There were so many different suggestions for what to mix with the shrub syrup, and hello, Thanksgiving is upon us. I had to try it. Cranberry and booze, welcome back to my life. This easy recipe makes a world of a difference from scary store bought cranberry juice cocktail.

These cookies are so easy and perfect for fall. With dried cranberries, orange zest, and poppy seeds, they can practically be substituted as a healthy breakfast cookie…Mix them up the day before a party, and the next morning you’ll take out simple and slice-able dough that bakes up perfectly.

The best part about these cookies? There are loads of variations for the basic dough that you could make work during just about any season. This recipe is very similar to Martha Stewart’s Lime Meltaways that I made back in July. Next time, I would consider adding:

Put the butter and powdered sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat at medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, yolk, and vanilla, and beat until well blended, another 2 minutes. Stop the mixer to scrape down the bowl if necessary.

Add the flour and the salt, orange zest, cranberries, and poppy seeds, all at once, to the egg mixture and beat on low speed until just incorporated. Stop the mixer and and remove the bowl and finish incorporating the ingredients with a spatula.

Divide the dough in half and place each half on a sheet of waxed paper. press each half into a log 1 inch in diameter. Roll into plastic wrap and store in the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours, although overnight is best.

When ready to bake, place racks in the middle and upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets w/ parchment paper and set aside.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap, and use a knife to slice dough into 1/3 inch thick rounds. lace on baking sheet about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, or until barely browned around the edges. Remove from the oven and cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Cookies will last, well wrapped, at room temperature for up to 4 days. For at least a month if you freeze them. The dough can be wrapped airtight and kept refrigerated for up to 3 days or stored in the freezer for up to 1 month.

NOTE: If using different mix-ins and coating the cookies, roll cookie logs in any coatings after taking out of refrigerator, before putting in oven.

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